Colorado A-B Distributors and Charmer Sunbelt Band Together To Attract Craft For The State

Beer Business Daily:

The Colorado A-B distributors, in conjunction with wine and spirits and beer distributor Charmer Sunbelt Group, have joined together to create a statewide distribution network in Colorado to attract craft brewers. In fact, they have already got a few brewers. The Charmer subsidiary is called Beverage Distributors Company. The consortium is called the the Colorado Craft Development Group and is comprised of BDC and eight indie A-B Distributors.

“The Colorado Craft Development Group could not be more excited to launch this new route to market footprint in Colorado” says Joe Marotta, chief of Beverage Distributors.

Odell Brewing Company and Great Divide Brewing Company will now be distributed by American Eagle Distributing covering northern Colorado, Central Distributing on the Western Slope, Orrison Distributing in the Vail Valley and Aspen, and Standard Sales from Summit County through Littleton and south and west to Durango. Beverage Distributors will continue to service the 8 county Denver metro area as well as the 3 counties in the northwest corner of the state.

In addition, the network has retained Colorado Craft Advisors, owned by Dave Duffy, as a statewide brand manager, strategic consultant, and network representative. Dave has had various field sales management roles with Boston Beer, New Belgium, and Great Divide, as well as GM experience on the wholesaler side with Western Beverage. “I started CCA because I had to jump at the chance to utilize my industry experience and apply it to developing execution strategy and tactics for multiple world-class breweries right here in my backyard. What’s cooler than that?”

J.B. Shireman, First Beverage Group, worked with all of the involved parties to help bring the transaction together and will continue to work with both the Colorado Craft Development and the CCA in the future.